Russia has a long standing tradition of providing a high quality free education system guaranteed to all its citizens. It has probably the best mass education system in the world, producing a literacy rate exceeding 98%. Almost 6% of the country’s GDP is allocated to education in the Federal Budget. Over five million students attend Russia’s institutions and universities of higher education.

As a result of the great emphasis on science and technology in education, Russian higher educational institutions in the fields of medicine, engineering, science, aviation and aerospace have been considered to be among the most advanced and sophisticated in the world. All institutions are well equipped with the most modern teaching aids and laboratories, facilities which are sometimes not available even in some of the more famous higher education establishments in the world.

Russia has taken enormous strides to make higher educational institutions in Russia accessible to foreign citizens. As a result, nearly 110000 international students from more than 200 countries of the world are now enrolled in Russian universities. With the financial support provided by the Federal Government to the universities, a foreign student pays only about 10 to 20% of the actual cost of education. Russian universities offer a choice of more than 500 different specialities in medicine, engineering, aviation, agriculture, economics and other fields to foreign students.

Russian university degrees are recognized worldwide. Over fifty medical universities of Russia are listed in the ‘World Directory of Medical Schools’ published by the WHO. Some of these universities have a history stretching more than two hundred years, like the Moscow Medical Academy which was established as early as 1765. Kazan State Medical University was established in 1814, while many others such as the Volgograd State Medical University and the Stavropol State Medical Academy go back to the early 1930’s.

Out of the top 100 medical universities in the world, Russian medical universities are said to occupy at least 30 places. Students passing out from any of the WHO listed institutions are eligible to appear for screening tests such as the USMLE of USA, PLAB of UK, and AMC of Australia etc.

Russia being a signatory to the Bologna Convention on mutual recognition of educational documents, degrees issued by Russian universities are accepted in all European Countries & vice versa. The Russian Degree is issued with the European Appendix, which provides an opportunity to continue education or take a job in another European Country.